The Passing Bells

At the outbreak of war, two teenage boys - one German and one British - defy their parents to sign up. But their enthusiasm is tested when they get their first taste of battle.

1916. Tommy and Michaels regiments face one another on opposite sides of the Somme battlefield. The war reaches a stalemate, although both sides are fighting harder than ever. Despite this, the men’s hearts are elsewhere, and while Michael can only dream of his wife back home, the lads arrange for lovelorn Tommy to spend time at the hospital with Joanna. Back in the trenches, British and German troops gather at the Somme – and as the shelling begins, Michael’s hopes of getting out of there alive secretly dwindle.

1918. As peace terms are negotiated, Tommy and Michael are still on the front line. Tommy celebrates his son’s birth, Michael has to rely on letters from Katie to keep him going. Eventually, after four years of fighting, rumours fly through both camps of impending peace, but it’s a complicated process, and as politicians wrangle over terms and conditions, shelling continues on both sides. When a bomb takes out a barbed-wire fence, Tommy volunteers to mend it – bringing him face to face with none other than Michael. With the war almost over, do they fight or run?